Flyers Pre-game: Knuble to start on scoring line, Wellwood sent down

SUNRISE, Fla. — Mike Knuble wanted to stay where he was, get used to the already familiar surroundings, even if they had taken on a different feel.

He had gone home to Grand Rapids, Mich., which is where the Toronto-born Knuble had spent many childhood years and where he has maintained a residence for him, his wife and their three children.

But this past week, Knuble was in different surroundings in what he calls his home town, because after playing 1,040 NHL games in an impressive career stretching back to the mid-1990s, Knuble was in a minor league uniform again.

He played Wednesday with the Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit’s AHL affiliate.

He was called upon Thursday to leave his home and come to Florida, to return to one of his old NHL teams, the Flyers.

“It was good, because it was in my home town,” Knuble said of playing his first AHL game since 1997. “That was important to me. I was pretty shocked that it wasn’t longer.”

He’d spent the past three seasons with Washington, and after the lockout failed a week-long training camp tryout with the Red Wings. But the 40-year-old Knuble was able to hook on with the Griffins, looking to keep sharp until an NHL team expressed interest. Besides, he was going home ... so you can’t blame him if he had at least a little mixed emotions about his stay there being such a short one.

“I was thinking a couple or three weeks,” Knuble said after prepping for tonight’s game against the Florida Panthers. “But it was fun. A good experience.”

Now comes the hard part, as Knuble, who as a durable right wing for the Flyers from 2005-09 scored 114 goals and 221 points, tries to get back on the fast track.

“I know I’ll probably move around a little bit, with the injuries going on,” said Knuble, who at today’s morning skate at the BB&T Center skated on a would-be second line with center Ruslan Fedotenko and Brayden Schenn ... who is almost half of Knuble’s age.

“When we get healthy again, I’m smart enough to know who’s going to get (minutes), where I stand on the team,” he added. “You go out there and do the best you can ... move around and do different things and do your best every night.”

“He doesn’t have the same game or the time that our other guys have had, but he went to a camp (with Detroit), got a game in (the AHL),“ coach Peter Laviolette said of Knuble. “We’re talking about a seasoned pro here. He’s played just about every system there is. I’m sure we’ll work him into the lineup.”

As for that lineup tonight, it won’t include Eric Wellwood. He was demoted to the AHL Phantoms today after practice. Might be a measure of surprise it’s Wellwood instead of Tom Sestito, but somebody had to go with Knuble here and Danny Briere close to returning.

This game against the Panthers will be the first game with both Scott Hartnell (metatarsal surgery, 4-6 weeks) and defenseman Andrej Meszaros (out for a month with a shoulder injury) missing. Meanwhile, Briere has been cleared for full practices and made it through one today.

Briere was holding out at least some hope for playing against the Panthers, but it’s much more likely he won’t be in until Sunday against the Lightning or perhaps Tuesday in New York against the Rangers.

“We’ll see tonight ... I’ll try it in warmup,” said Briere, whose delayed season was delayed even more by a wrist fracture while playing in Germany. “I didn’t feel that great this morning, but maybe when I’m warmed up tonight, we’ll see what happens.”